Ice Cream!

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Last March, our kids’ elementary school had its annual auction.  In the past, I have taken photos of each of the 500+ students.  We line the halls with 8 x 10 images of each child and the prints are available for parents to purchase with all proceeds going to the school.  It’s a BIG task – it takes a lot of time, but it’s also very rewarding interacting with each child and seeing each parent’s reaction to his or her child’s photo.  This last year, I didn’t take on this task, so I felt the least I could do was donate a family session (and a good friend twisted my arm to donate one of my sessions!).  I was thrilled to find out the Helman’s won my package because their family is adorable.

This session was so fun for me because I love “lifestyle photography” or capturing families doing what they do on an every day basis.  I always encourage parent’s with little kids to have some sort of encouragement, reward…bribery to keep the kids motivated and to make the session fun.  We ended our session with a trip to Molly Moons.  Usually when my sessions are officially “over” the real, natural smiles come out.  Luckily – we had some great candid photos when we were doing our session, but I loved being a part of the ice cream fun!

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Back to it.

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These past few years have flashed  by.  They have been filled with so much joy, but also a lot of sadness.  My baby will be FOUR this fall and with each child, time passes by more quickly.  As the third child of three, I expected I would have been much more diligent about documenting my baby’s life (also the third of three), but instead I have belatedly granted my mom forgiveness for never finishing MY baby book oh so many years ago.  I now get it.  Life is busy and priorities shift as “survival” sets in.

I don’t expect that life will get less busy.  In fact, I anticipate the opposite.  But it’s a different busy with kids who are more self-sufficient, independent, and also who are involved in a lot more activities and have different needs. I am trying to shift my expectations accordingly.  With this shift, I understand I can’t do it all.  I have focused my energy in places where I am needed most and where I WANT to be, not where I feel I SHOULD be.

I WANT to be capturing family’s lives in thick of the craziness.  I WANT to stop time for a moment – or be part of those every day moments and document them.  I WANT to do this for MY family and YOURS.

Losing my mom in 2014 has caused me to learn so much about myself, my family, priorities, navigating grief, and life in general.  I miss her every day.  I cherish the photos that I have of her and with her.  I love looking at the images from when she was my age.  My sisters and I were the same age as my kids.  Even more so, I cherish looking at photos of my mom with my kids – she was the BEST grandma.

Life is full of joy and it’s unexpected.  I have been busier than ever these past two years with photography – but I haven’t documented on social media.  So here I am “back to it” – back to sharing what I love with all of you!

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